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Editors' Review

The bottom line: The new owners of Lavasoft have revamped Ad-Aware to the point where it has almost nothing in common with its predecessors besides function. It's a good reboot, but it's not out of the woods yet.

Review:
While the name Ad-Aware remains the same as it has for the past 13 years, everything from the user interface to the code powering Ad-Aware 10 is entirely new.

More so than any recent version of Ad-Aware, the suite is usable, lightweight, and worthy of your attention.

Installation
The installation is straightforward, although it still does opt you in by default to the Ad-Aware browser toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox. A software installation ought to get your program installed as quickly as possible, with as little requirement for input from the person installing it. Ad-Aware's installation was zippy and generally painless.

Unlike nearly all of its competitors, it does not require you to register to use the free version or the trials of the paid upgrades. What it does do similarly to its competitors on install is good, though: it automatically downloads new virus definition files and runs a quick scan. A reboot is unfortunately required; that's an occupational hazard for security suites like this one that have deep hooks into the Windows OS.

Interface
A big reason that the new Ad-Aware stands a good chance of surviving is because it's finally a usable product again. Gone is the tripartite vertical sectioning, replaced instead with a more traditional layout. Not unlike the major interface change that Avast introduced for its fifth version, the interface's quirkiness has been replaced by usability. The interface is divided into three horizontal sections: the top contains navigation to Home, Info, and Options; the second shows you a large, protection status icon with links to dive deeper into recent protection on the right; and the majority of the interface offers additional protection tools such as gaming mode, firewall, and safe browsing.

The interface is multithreaded, which means that using text "breadcrumbs" you can easily find your way back through the interface the way you came, or directly to the Home screen.

Even though tools are categorized into Basic and Advanced, they all have buttons on the main screen for quick toggling. More advanced configuration options are still available, but as with most of the competition, they've been buried one level down to avoid confusing beginners and to keep visual clutter to a minimum. Click the name of any feature and a pop-up provides a brief explanation of what it does. Click the gear icon next to it to dive into config options.

Features and support
Ad-Aware's features have been improved as well. It offers the same level of core protection against malware across the board, in free and paid products. Nag screens have been removed, a silent/gaming mode has been added, and Ad-Aware now gives advanced heuristics and rootkit protection to people using the free version.

Ad-Aware's antivirus engine is powered by Vipre, a well-known security suite that's more popular in Europe than North America. Vipre has never set the security world on fire for its results, but it is a good, solid, middle-of-the-road engine that will detect many, and in some cases most, of the threats you'll face on a regular basis.

The toolbar's been streamlined, stripped of most extraneous features, and offers a search engine powered by upstart Google competitor Blekko. It also detects bad URLs and blocks you from loading them, so it has a legitimate security purpose.

Assouline also said that people can expect to see new features land in Ad-Aware regularly, as the program has adopted an aggressive release cycle not unlike Chrome and Firefox. He cautioned, though, that it was not the six-week cycle that those browsers have.

The differences between the paid versions and the free versions have shrunk, as more features have been front-loaded into the free version. Ad-Aware Personal Security 10 adds reputation and anti-malware filtering for $12 per year. Ad-Aware Pro Security offers e-mail phishing protection, USB guards, a two-way firewall, and network protection at $36 per year. If you don't care about the lack of spam filters or parental controls, or the lack of reputation-based protection, and you trust Ad-Aware -- always a key point -- $36 could be quite a deal. Considering what's offered, it's very nearly priced to disrupt the market.

One interesting problem we encountered was the program updates were pushed out in separate installation files. Unlike most competitors, which offer in-place downloads so that the suite updates without having to run an installer, an offered software update opened a Web site and asked for approval to start downloading.

It's an extra step that's unusual because it leaves the installation of the new security suite version up to the individual, and that could potentially create security risks.

Performance 3
When it comes to threat scanning, our tests on a real-world computer found that the Ad-Aware Pro Security 10 averaged 4 minutes, 23 seconds over three clean installs for its first scan, a competitive score.

We don't have any third-party security efficacy results to share at this time, but Vipre, the company that provides Ad-Aware's engine, received passing grades from AV-Test in 2011 and the first few months of 2012. It wasn't tested by AV-Comparatives.

The new Ad-Aware is off to a good start when it comes to performance. The suite's impact on system performance was slightly better than average.

Security Program

Boot time

Shutdown time

Scan time

MS Office performance

iTunes decoding

Media multitasking

Cinebench

Unprotected system

40

6

n/a

395

120

342

17,711

Average of all tested systems (to date)

66.4

15.6

1,195

414

125

347

17,116

Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 10

55.6

14.3

3,215

427

126

345

17,215

Ad-Aware Personal Security 10

63.6

12.5

3,127

412

126

348

16,810

Ad-Aware Pro Security 10

54.3

13.1

3,112

409

126

346

17,049

*All tests measured in seconds, except for Cinebench. On the Cinebench test, the higher number is better.

Ad-Aware's lowish impact on computer boot time and shut down time, and average impact on in-use tests, were marred by exceptionally slow scan tests. Nevertheless, these scores were better than we were expecting for a completely new security suite.

Conclusion
The new Ad-Aware is an enormous turn for this longtime player in the Windows security field. Lavasoft's plans to update the suite more regularly than its competition bodes well for keeping people safe independent of traditional annual update schedules. If you trust the Lavasoft and Ad-Aware names, Ad-Aware 10 is worth a close look. However, it's got some important gaps that must be filled, and until we can see the impact of the Ad-Aware engine with the Vipre engine, it will be challenging to honestly evaluate the suite.

If Ad-Aware's reboot takes the way that Webroot's has, then we could be watching the rebirth of yet another aggressive competitor in the field, and at the end of the day that bodes best for your computer security.

Usually I don't write reviews but today I decided to. and after I won't do it anymore. For our Blekko friends I 'll say that: very easy to not have it. Be careful at the beginning of the install. Chose CUSTOM and do not check the Blekko. HARD???

Lavasoft partnered with Blekko which is a search engine, and unless you carefully opt out, you will be stuck with Blekko as a homepage on your browsers. Much like malware (which is the very reason I use Lavasoft's products) Blekko hides itself and is very time consuming to remove. It also continues to change homepage settings even after being uninstalled and requires further attention to the registry and browser settings to totally get rid of it. I have completely removed Ad Aware and will NEVER use or buy Lavasoft products in the future. Let this be a lesson about being careful who you partner with and what you allow them to do. A great product has been ruined in my opinion.

Summary

Updated on Feb 11, 2013

Corina:

Thanks for the suggestion, but that does NOT work. Once it has been installed with the Blekko box checked, there is no getting rid of it. I tried deleting adaware and blekko completely to no avial. I tried your suggestion and Blekko is still my default homepage. No matter how many times I change it in Explorer-Tools-Internet Options, it resets the next time I open IE. From a google search, this is a common problem with Blekko. Again, I wish Lavasoft would have been more cautious about who they partnered with.

I readily admit that I SHOULD have opted out upon installation. I have trained myself to carefully scrutinize what I am downloading. Its just that I had downloaded prodocuts from Lavasoft so often in the past that I just blindly clicked "continue" without carefully reviewing. Definitely my fault, but I think Blekko is taking advantage of the goodwill Lavasoft/Adaware had built up with its customers to push its product on us (in my case I am now a FORMER customer).

I am sorry you encountered these issues. You can install Ad-Aware without Blekko by simply running the installer again and choosing "custom" install please kindly uncheck the Blekko checkbox. To remove Blekko please do not change anything in the registry as it does not affect the registry you simply need to open your browser an change back your homepage and default browser.

Fast to instal however be prepared to follow plain and simple instructions....fast scan plenty options,like any other just time will tell...can always uninstall if...give the small players a chance....

Cons

Only that it does not give specific clarifications about the warnings it finds and puts in the reports.

Summary

Considering it's free, it's a great product. It altered my perception and standards for free antiviruses and it will be hard for the others I have tried in the past to compare.

I downloaded free version to try. I ran full scan to see what is slowing down my computer. After software ren for couple of hours, computer is not able to boot up. I called Lavasoft and they told me that I need to by their service for $250 dollars to fix problem since I used free version.I was asking to talk to manager but 3 times I got disconnected.BAD SERVICE, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY.

I am sorry you encountered these issues. As mentioned on our site that is a 3rd party paid technical support center. We do offer phone and email support for free 24/7 by either using this link: http://www.lavasoft.com/mylavasoft/support/supportcenter/adaware_critical_problem_report or calling our call centers 1-888-448-6881.

Fast and very effective scanning engine. I have used other anti virus software and Ad-Aware was introduced to me late in 2011. I will never e-mail, surfing or playing without this program. A nice product.

Cons

I've had no problems using it.

Summary

An effective application with a fast response and does not really slow down the computer

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